The procedure violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, the ACLU said.

Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, sent a letter today to Strain and St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis arguing that the practice of stripping suicidal prisoners half-naked and placing them in 3-foot-by-3-foot metal cages with no bed, blanket or toilet is worse than the minimum legal standards for dogs.

Dogs must be kept in cages at least 6 feet wide and 6 feet deep with sufficient space to lie down, according to a St. Tammany Parish ordinance.

The ACLU said it conducted interviewed current and former prisoners and learned that prisoners must curl up on the floor to sleep because the cages are too small for them to lie down.

In addition, guards frequently ignored requests to use the bathroom, forcing some to urinate in discarded containers, Esman said.

The cages are in a main part of the jail, allowing other prisoners to see those confined in these cages, she said. Prisoners reported people being held in these cages for days, weeks, and months, Esman said.

The ACLU noted that Strain is scheduled to receive millions of dollars for upgrades to the jail.The ACLU wants some of this money to be used to create humane housing for people on suicide watch at the jail.

Sheriff Strain said Thursday that the ACLU made numerous statements that were incorrect or misleading, but declined to go into details about the charges made by the organization. He said the jail's medical director is preparing a report that will address these issues on a point-by-point basis, but said the report would not be ready Thursday.

However, Strain did acknowledge inmates thought to be a severe danger to themselves or others are held in 3-foot-by-3-foot cages. The conditions for mentally ill inmates in the jail represent the facility's best attempts to deal with the issue, he said. Strain said that more action is needed by the state to move mentally ill prisoners out of correctional facilities and improve their treatment.

"My job is to deal with the criminal; (Gov.) Bobby Jindal's job is to deal with the criminally insane," Strain said.